But, oh, those summer nights: The Nostalgia of Summer
By Conor Doyle
“Too often summer days appear
Emblems of perfect happiness
I can't confront I must await
A time less bold, less rich, less clear…”
“Mother, Summer, I” by Philip Larkin
According to the seasons, summer has already departed, and Autumn has arrived and if you feel like I do that elicits quite the defeated groan. Sure, it still feels like summer (as summery as an Irish August can feel) but hints and whispers allude to autumn’s entrance; apple trees are shedding their fruit, the dark creeps in earlier and earlier each night, and “Reeling in the years'' is on after the news.
When these signs of summer's exit begin to become apparent, I can’t help but feel an amount of dread and a wistful desperation to maintain the summer for as long as I can. I convince myself I must make every summer day left special, make them count. In applying this pressure to my days, I constantly remind myself the summer is on its commute to the southern hemisphere, and I become too morose to even enjoy the summer I have left! Of course, some of us prefer winter months for their cosy, close vibes but I think I can safely say many, especially us Irish who so rarely are treated to the sun’s rays, treasure Summer. May, June, and July are held upon golden, gleaming pedestals of hopes and aspirations, so many plans are hatched in the hope the sun will smile throughout those months. We trust that those three, golden, months will bring with them the opportunities to make memories, and this is where the nostalgia of summer is truly potent. Being a young man of twenty-one, to me summer represents the freedom from studies and school, it is the time to do what you want to do – no obligations, no study and less work breaking backs and spirits. I have so many memories of shedding my school uniform and adopting shorts and t-shirts and scheming with friends on how we’ll make the summer a special one. Whether or not these plans worked out or materialised, summer was always special.
Trips away with friends to the coast, frolicking in the sea and sunbathing in the dunes, holidays with family, new places, new foods, new experiences. BBQs and bees buzzing about from flower to flower, cycling with the breeze and swaying in the hammock while delving into whatever new worlds that year’s books gifted me.
Nostalgia can often be mistaken as a giddy feeling of revisiting moments and memories that brought joy. However, in reality nostalgia is a more sombre word and feeling. Nostalgia is a word borrowed from the Greek word Nostos which means to return or a homecoming. Return is a tragically apt origin for nostalgia, when we reminisce or yearn for days gone by, we return to our memories, that’s all we truly have of those wonderful times past and is all we can return to. When of course in those moments of wistful longing all we wish is that we could return for real to those memories and times. For me, summers past is the ultimate example of this melancholic yearning. Those memories are always warm, eternally in the suns golden hour and infinitely inviting. Whether it was a more carefree feeling I wish could be recaptured or a specific moment with a special person from the past that now might be as elusive or lost to time as the moment itself. I’ve always been a sentimental person who loves to look back at those halcyon days that are ever sepia toned, some of my favourite pieces of art and media touch upon the bond between nostalgia and summer and are always touchstones that I relate my feelings and longings to.
Summer and nostalgia are subject matters in some of the greatest films, songs, poems, and books ever created. Two of my favourite movies ever, “Dazed and Confused '' by Richard Linklater and “Stand by Me” by Rob Reiner, take place during summer days, backdropped with blue skies and green leaves as well as breezy, balmy nights. Both of these movies portray the wonders of being young and the simple pleasures that the liberation of summer bestows upon the youth. “Dazed and Confused” chronicles the day schools finished for summer in 1976 and follows several different characters of several different social strata – all in search of a good time and for the most part they find what they seek. “Stand by Me '' sees four friends on an adventure through junkyards, train tracks and leech infested swampy forests, their end goal being to find the body of a disappeared youth. I think back to when I was the age of the boys in “Stand by Me'' and remember quests of my own with my own wayward band of merry men at that age, escaping the small town drudgery and finding fun and discovery in the fields, forests, and beaches. Even writing this now I feel a pang in my chest that conjures a bittersweet smile upon my lips, how I’d love to be that young son of a gun again, tromping through fields and so convinced that when I dug a hole on the beach I could get to China or at the very least find an artefact that would be the incubus of an “Indiana Jones” style expedition. Those movies instil that feeling of hazy, heat infused memories of summer days gone by, perhaps best summed in the ever-melancholy ending of “Stand by Me” where the song of the same name plays as the main character reflects: “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12 – Jesus, does anyone.”
Cold, rainy days when the summer never seems further away is when I return to those films that are concentrated, distilled trips to a summery state of mind. I could look out at the sleet or hail of a January afternoon (or of an August morning when I write this and rain pelts my bedroom window) and through those movies or maybe even a groovy, grilling playlist curated specifically for BBQs; I catch a fleeting feeling of the good times and long summer nights that are now long-gone chapters of the unfinished book that we continue to pen every day.
While we may long for those simpler, brighter times and for our proverbial greatest hits to be replayed in our lives just one more time, there are more tracks to be added to our greatest hits yet. The nostalgia of the summer is not only a sombre return to past glories and happy days, but it can also be a heartening reflection on great days we had with great people that we were lucky enough to experience. Those memories are the best parts of us, sharing our lives and moments with friends and the ones we love and creating moments that colour the canvas of our soul. So, we can allow ourselves to sigh that sad sigh when we look at an old, dusty polaroid of a happy summer day long ago but so too can we smile wide and rejoice that we etched out moments worthy of those sunny summer days. A healthy amount of reflection and nostalgia is a heartening thing but more heartening than looking back is looking ahead and there will always be another summer. Winters gloom may cast an oppressive shadow, but springs shoots sprout joy within us that summer is ahead, that beautiful time of blue skies, green leaves and new moments waiting to be forged.
Conor Doyle is a 21-year-old aspiring writer born and bred in Carlow. Conor is currently studying Multimedia in Dublin City University which he has yet to ever attend (thanks Covid) physically. Conor is currently writing several pieces and projects that are still very much in the coal stage of the diamond creation process. When not writing he enjoys reading and watching films as well as cycling and being in nature. Other areas of interest are dad rock and professional wrestling, the finer things in life. Can be found on Instagram @con_doyle_21.
